About commissioning a portrait

Sitting for the artist

2009-07-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

An artist may give a length of time that he/she will want you to sit but, given the nature of the job, will end up wanting more. And then he may ask for even more.

Getting the work right can be very stressful for the artist, and however confident he was at the beginning about the time he would need you to sit for, the reality of his struggle with the canvas may be different.

This may not be a sign of inefficiency or bull from the artist. On the one hand some people are natural sitters and some are not. On the other hand some paintings do not come easy.

Some sitters sit excellently- they are still and understand how to make small corrections to their pose. I find that ballet dancers are excellent models- they understand their body space, they are used to physical duress, and are used to being given instructions for small physical moves. But that is unusual, and some people just dont enjoy it.

Some people just start looking miserable, and so you start to talk to them, and then they don't sit still.

Sometimes I pose the subject, start working and as they relax they will shift the angle of their head to their place of relaxation. This may mean that I have to start again as they are not self-aware enough of the difference.

I watched the great painter Nelson Shanks paint a two hour public demo of the famous italian singer Andrea Bocelli. Bocelli sat down and his head started a constant and ceaseless bobbling up, down, side to side. His hands would be still and then jerk to a new position. Bccellis blindness meant that he had no spacial awareness. Shanks said afterwards that he nearly gave in but with his normal persistence and skill finished a remarkable likeness which was then given to the city of Sarzana

I think that whether someone is being paid to sit or paying to sit it is still imperative that everyone enjoys themselves. There is no point creating avoidable suffering for art.

A professional model will normally expect breaks every 15 to 20 minutes and will work up to an 8 hour day. I usually start by asking a commission subject to sit for two hours in one day (given they can come back easily on another day) unless I am confident that they are happy to sit for longer.

I tell the subject that they must not suffer and to take breaks whenever they need, and that I will probably get carried away and will forget the timed breaks, but to remember that if they are not comfortable then I am probably not as well, so they should call the break themselves.

Most of the time I can talk during a sitting. There are some times that I need the subject to be still- when I am doing the essential drawing, checking for errors, or concentrating on the mouth.

Sometime, if the sitter is struggling, I will put a movie onto the computer for the sitter to watch. Often this can give the sitter a blank expression but I find that good comedy can solve this. The old sitcom Friends is excellent, especially as the length of each show fits in well for breaks.

Style of painting

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The paint finish or texture that is suitable for a woman s is almost always more polished that for a man. An artist who is excellent for men may not aways be so excellent when painting women.

I saw a big full length painting in a very grand home of a titled gentry in the UK. It was painted by a very well known and talented artist who specialised in portraits and who was also a good family friend of the sitter.

The application of paint on the face was too angular and harsh to do justice to this good looking wife. The artist was certainly best for males or the genre interior groups he had made is forte. Womens faces just were not flattered by his style.

I think the wife had ended up with a very big painting of herself that she did not care for very much but felt obliged to hang in the double height entrance way to their palatial home. Maybe there is a rule there about portrait commissioning- Dont ask a friend to do that full length painting of you...

Framing

2009-07-01T15:47:00.001-07:00

Often an artist will leave the framing to the client. The quality of framing can make a great difference to the finished work. There are a lot of average framers and a few experts. The good frames may not cost much more than the average, but then they may also cost more than the painting itself.
In general there are the high street framers who buy ready finished mouldings that are simply cut and joined together. At the other end of the spectrum are the specialist manufacturers doing one off frames who know and understand the traditional techniques such as real gold leaf.

Often an upmarket gallery or framers will be sending out to one of the expensive NY makers such as Lowy or Heydenryk.

Heydenryk are about top of the expense tree but in my experience will make a huge effort to get a frame to the right place on time.

Some great framers:
UK
PR Elletson & Co Ltd, North Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire, SN9 5HE

USA
Expensive but excellent
Lowy http://www.lowyonline.com/
House of Heydenryk: http://www.heydenryk.com/

Less expensive and good
Carleton-Kirkegaard www.carletonkirkegaard.com
Stafford Frame Makers www.staffordframes.com

Are you commissioning a portrait or a piece of art?

2009-07-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

A parent wanting to commission a portrait wants it to look like their child. They probably want as much face as possible so that it is unmistakable a painting of their child. This desire may work against getting an artistic piece of artwork. Often the most attractive painings do not have the face coming out of the paining but obscured in some way. Paintings that rate as a great painting will often be more about a feeling or a time and place rather than a person. It is difficult to hit both the portrait for the parent button as well as the great painting button: Not impossible just a lot more difficult. I will often do extra paintings or drawings for myself playing with compositions which are not enough about the individual to answer the main question but that I think are worthwhile for their own sake. The metaphor I like is that there is a main course/entree portrait that is the essential requirement for the successful fulfillment of the commission, but there is the opportunity to do a starter and a dessert as well. These are the more arty responses to the subject.

This painting (I think by Mike Mann) is a beautiful painting but would not have been every clients wish. But if the (theoretical - as I dont think this is a commission) client had demanded clear unobstructed faces they would have prevented this beautiful Sorrollaesque painting.

This painting by the great Jeremy Lipkin of his lovely wife again shows how not showing the whole face can give a far more beautiful effect than the obvious portrait pose.

Singles or groups? Head and shoulders, half length or full length?

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Groups are difficult to do well. The default is the family around the sofa which is very difficult to lift above the boring. I encourage clients who want the whole family to check whether paintings of each of the subjects would not be better. When the children grow up they can all take theirs home.

If you are committed to a group one thing to try to avoid is all the faces looking out of the painting. It may be better even to have one face turned away or even obscured. One master of family groups is a British artist Howard Morgan. His groups always escape from the boring with figures creeping in from the sides of the paintings.

Painting a head is a challenge. If you want to include hands into the painting then they may take as long as the head to paint. A full length painting may not add much more effort if the artist is only adding a long dress, but bare flesh such as arms or feet will escalate the time the artist needs to get it right. These increases in time and effort will usually be relected in an increased price.

The more body that is put in the painting then the smaller the head will probably get. Beware putting a long body in a painting when what you are really interested in is the face unless you have a big wall for a big painting. But for some people the body is a big bit of their story, for instance a young dancer, so one may chose to let the face be a small element in the painting.

What size?

2009-07-01T15:25:00.001-07:00

One of the first conversations that I have with a client is where is the painting likely to go. However inexperienced a client is with painting this is a good handle to start planning the painting. The clients home dictates size. A London or Manhattan home is likely to be a different scale to a South of France or Beverly Hills home. The placing of the painting may also dictate whether the painting will be a vertical or horizontal composition.

If a client does not have a good idea of what they want I suggest that they look through portrait sites to give them an idea.

What medium? Painting or drawing? Oil or pastel?

2009-07-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

Drawings are easier for the artist as there is little or no colour to think about and so they are usually cheaper. Drawings often suit young children better than paintings.

Some clients think about pastel rather than oil. Pastel has been popular for children. I think the reason for this is that in the past some artists became very skilled at working from life from children. Using pastels makes some of the problems associated with this easier to manage. The artist would have usually be working in the clients home: Oil paints, an oil palette, and an easel can be a liability in a home.

Thinking of problems with oil paint in a home I once had a pair of five year olds wipe their hands all round the palette then wipe their hands over each other and then leave a colourful trail through every room up to the parents bed. I felt fortunate that I was not there at the time and so was not held responsible. Another time I was help responsible: Working in a room with an acre of new white carpet I had carefully put down a protective cloth around me. I took a break leaving a small box of red chalk open on the cloth. In my absence a three year old dabbed his foot in the chalk and printed his footprints all over the white carpet. I was billed for the cleaning.

Photography

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If your artist is taking pictures will he/she show you the ones he wants to work from before starting. There are pros and cons to this from the artists point of view ad I often do not. If I have a good idea of what I want to achieve and showing the clients can deflect me from it.

Will you be able to have copies of the photos? If so will you be charged for this as an extra. I don’t charge as I think the client is paying for the painting and the photos are a nice extra.

From life or photos?

2009-07-01T15:22:00.002-07:00

One practical differential is will the painting be done from life or photos. Sometimes photos are the only way: I have done commemorative paintings from a black and white team photo with a head 2cm high.

Some artists say that they only work from life. If you are commissioning a painting of yourself and you know you have the commitment to sit for the hours it may take they may be the right artist. Working from life can take an hour to completion if the pose is a simple head and shoulders but it is unlikely that an artist will limit themselves to an hour for a commission, especially if they are not using photos as well as the sitting. Most artists will give themselves around six hours minimum for a good head. This gives time to have breaks, to correct, to polish forms and to review.

Artist personality

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If you are commissioning work you will want a house trained artist. If the artist is working from life then he/she may become a semi-permanent fixture in your home. If you are offering a very nice guest house in your south of France home. There is a very successful children’s photographer in the UK. I always thought of him as a big Labrador dog- you would always trust him in your home and to wander off into the garden with your children.

I have heard of clients talk about artists with issues such as personal hygiene problems or artists who have insisted on making passes on their happily married clients, but most are a great pleasure to meet especially when you flattering them with a commission and cash.

References

2009-07-01T15:21:00.000-07:00

Will an artist willingly give you references of previous clients? Of course you will get a selection but it still may be useful to ask.

Timescale

2009-07-01T15:20:00.000-07:00

How long will it take for your paining to be delivered. Remember that if you are working to a deadline it may take over a month to organise and do the framing.

An artist working from life may take a few days, one working from photos may drag it out for years. Be clear on your time scale, remembering that you may have to wait for the best (either for them to start or to finish).

Artists from the ateliers

2009-07-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

There are now many ateliers around the world. These schools teach excellent skills and I dearly wish that i had been able to find something similar when I was looking in the 80's.

There are many strengths to this kind of education, but as with any intense education there can be a downside. Many of the artists coming out of the atelier schools, and in my experience this is particularly true of the Florence schools, are very skilled at long pose portraits in a controlled studio. They often have strongly held attitudes about the correct way to work, such as insisting on long poses from life and/or never using photography.

This modus operandi is great when used in the ideal conditions but the realities of the commissioned art world are seldom as controllable. If, for instance, the subject is a child this type of approach may be unhelpful. Children either can not sit, or can not sit for long, or overestimate how long that they can sit for. This of course can equally be true for adults. Atelier trained artists can be limited by their overconfidence in the methods that they have spent years learning which can lead to suffering all round.

I do not want to devalue what is taught in these schools- it is great basis to grow from and I am deeply envious of the opportunities these places offer- but successful portrait painting needs a flexible creative approach to the process and these schools do not always encourage flexibility.

Flexibility in the artist can make the process much easier for everyone. I seldom know how I am going to approach a portrait before I have spent some time with the client, preferably in their home. Seeing their home immediately gives me a good feeling of their tastes. It gives me an insight into the finished product that will make them happy. This includes the size style, and colouring of the finished painting. I am painting to make the client happy, and everything goes into achieving this goal. I do not see the desire to please the client as in any way different to pleasing my own standards as an artist. I hope to give them more than they expect and to challenge my own limitations on the way. I go to meet the client with an open mind. All things being equal I may have an idea of what I am interested in at that time.

The importance of experience and portfolios

2009-07-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

An artist may be very skilled and practiced at their favorite thing, such as long formal poses in his studio. But ask the same artist to do a painting of a five year old or to paint an outside scene and he may not be able to deliver the same level of skill. Then the question is are you prepared to take a chance? I am eternally grateful to all my clients who have taken the risk with me and asked me to do work out of my area of experience. I hope I have always justified their faith.

Ideally the artist that you are thinking of commissioning has a good number of examples that they can show you of the type of painting that you are thinking of.

Remember when looking at an artists portfolio that they will show you the hits and not the misses. They have selected their best work to show you, in the same way that a surgeon will not invite discussion of his worst performances. How many write offs have they had for the couple of images they are showing you. This may be true if a mature artist will only show a couple of examples- What happened to the rest?

Should you go through an agent or gallery?

2009-07-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

Agents, like galleries, normally take at least 50% from the artist. It can be more once tax is removed. In the UK with sales tax at 17.5% the artist will get a maximum of 42.5% of what you pay if you go through an agent- almost all of will make a 100% mark up.

Why use an agency? You will get someone taking their time to go through a selection of artists. But it is only a selection of artists. An agent (or gallery) will have their pet artists who may even be on a stipend from that agent. The gallery pays them a salary and they are contracted to do certain number of paintings each year.

The agent will prompt you towards these artists by talking them up. These artists are likely to be ok/good but not necessarily very good. They should be reliable- if they were not the gallery would not be investing in them. Will they be inspirational? Do you want half your money to go to an agency? Will you get better work because you went through an agency? You should get very competent work through an agency and you may get excellent work.

Judge your choice against the best

2009-07-01T15:03:00.000-07:00

There are many good artists but few that are masters. Compare an artist against the best- Here are some of them:

Jacob Collins www.jacobcollinspaintings.com
Rob Liberace www.robertliberace.com
Nelson Shanks www.nelsonshanks.com
Dan Gerhartz http://www.danielgerhartz.com/
Burton Silverman www.burtonsilverman.com
Daniel Green www.danielgreeneartist.com

How to find the artist that you want?

2009-07-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

Successful portraits are a specific and challenging skill. Painting a landscape is one thing. Add another branch to the tree and no one will notice. Drop an eye by two millimeters and it will look wrong.

Places to look for experienced artists are:

Agencies
UK:
Fine Art Commissions www.fineartcommissions.com, Commission a Portrait www.commissionaportrait.com

USA:
Portraits South www.portraitsouth.com,
Portraits Inc www.portraitsinc.com,
Portrait Brokers of America www.portraitbrokers.com

Internet search
Stroke of Genius www.portraitartist.com/
Portrait Society of America www.portraitsociety.org
Art Renewal Center www.artrenewal.org

Schools
Studio Incamminati www.studioincamminati.org
Grand Central Academy www.grandcentralacademy.classicist.org
Florence Academy www.florenceacademyofart.com

How much should you pay?

2009-07-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

A significant question is how much to pay. You may pay from $200, to $1m plus. Your local friend will do something for less than the cost the delivery of a good frame. If you can interest Lucien Freud in lifting a brush in your direction then the sky is the limit.

Remember that an artist working with an agency is going to loose half of what you pay to the agency so going to an artist directly may end up being better value if you want to save a few thousand dollars.

You are unlikely to get an experienced profession artist for less than $2500 for a head, or $5000 for a full length.

A group is usually charged by taking the price for a single and simply multiplying by the number of people. Of course there is a lot of room for negotiation here as there is when negotiating for a set of single paintings within a family. Obviously there is less effort for the artist doing three kids in one family than three in different states. I think 10-15% is reasonable. You are less likely to get a negotiation with an agency that going direct.

My experience

2009-07-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

I have been painting portraits around the world for twenty years. I have worked for people from all walks of life from Middle Eastern Emirs to the leaders of the worlds biggest companies. One point that has never changed is that it is not easy to get a portrait right. It is one thing to be lucky on a couple of paintings- It is another thing to get it right every time.

Painting portraits is no easy route to success as an artist. There may have been some truth that portrait artists could be second rate twentyfive years ago at the nadir of representational painting but the standards have risen. I would say that from the perspective of a hundred years from now it may not be too much to predict that we are entering a new golden age of painting where, for the first time since before the first world war, a tranch of artists will be seen to have matched the great masters of the past.

Portraits are difficult to get right. In the art world it is the equivalent mountaineering. Your mistakes are very obvious. If you walk up the easy side of the mountain no one will notice if you make a mistake but they will if you are climbing. The same is true of painting portraits. Paint a still life and it is not very obvious if the flowers head is bigger or redder than reality. But everyone will notice in a portrait.

So if portraits are difficult to do, then they are also difficult to commission. You are committing yourself to buy something that you have not seen. You also want to hang it on a wall where other people will see it. The process is fraught with problems. You are relying on an artist to deliver your expensive unseen purchase, and artists are, by reputation, unreliable people to work with.

Will your artist want to produce what you want? Will your artist be able to technically? If your artist can produce what you want on a good day will he/she be able to on any other day? If you want some changes will your artist be happy to oblige? If you then want more will he/she then continue to be obliging? What if you even want the artist to start again because he/she is miles off? How much should you pay? The artist made the painting bigger that you first discussed- should you pay more?